Draper headers generally include a header frame, an elongate cutter bar along a front edge of the frame including a cutter bar beam which carries a plurality of knife guards for guiding reciprocating movement of a sickle knife across a front edge of the cutter bar. On the header is also mounted a draper assembly including a first and second draper guide roller each arranged at a respective end of the draper assembly spaced apart along the cutter bar with an axis of each roller extending substantially at right angles to the cutter bar. A feed draper can be provided forming a continuous loop of flexible material wrapped around rollers so as to define a front of the draper adjacent the cutter bar, a rear of the draper spaced rearwardly of the cutter bar and an upper run of the draper on top of the rollers for carrying the crop rearwardly to a discharge opening of the header for feeding into a feeder house of the harvester.
The draper header of this type includes two side drapers each running from an outer end guide roller at an outer end of the header to an inner end guide roller adjacent a discharge location of the header which is registered and communicated with a feeder house of an agricultural crop harvesting machine supporting the header. There is also a central feed draper located at the discharge location and including a front guide roller just behind the cutter bar and running to a rear guide roller at the feeder house of the crop harvesting machine. As such, there are two side drapers to transport the crop cut by the knife inwardly along the header to a central discharge opening. The side drapers discharge onto the central feed draper so as to carry the crop from the side drapers rearwardly into the feeder house for inlet into the crop harvesting machine for processing. A rotary feed roller which typically carries flight portions is mounted at the discharge opening of the header above the feed draper so as to assist in carrying bulky crop through the discharge opening so as to be carried into the feeder house. A front edge of the flight is presented forward of the rear end of the feed draper and feeds the material inwardly and underneath the rotary feed member to the inlet of the feeder house.
The draper header of this type can be used for attachment to a swather tractor for forming a swath in which case the material is carried to a discharge opening of the header and deposited therefrom onto the ground. Headers of this type can also be used for feeding a combine harvester so that the materials are carried to an adapter member positioned at the discharge opening of the header for carrying the materials from the discharge opening into the feeder housing of the harvester. Yet further, headers of this type can be used for hay conditioners in which the material from the discharge opening is carried into crushing rolls. It will be appreciated, therefore, that the use of the header is not limited to particular types of agricultural machine but can be used with any such machine in which it is necessary to cut a standing crop and to transport that crop when cut longitudinally of the header for operation thereon.
Presently, draper headers have not been purposely designed to be used with self-propelled forage harvesters. Adaptations have been made to headers designed for combine harvesters to enable use on a forage harvester though these adaptations were primarily concerned with issues including mounting locations, and connectors and connections for hydraulic fluid delivery to the header. For example, the company RCI Engineering LLC makes commercially available conversion bundles so as to render usable a draper header on John Deere forage harvesters such as the 7000 series, and 7250 through 7750 series. Traditionally, these harvesting machines have power units providing a header drive similar to that of a combine harvester, that is coupling to the header occurs in the longitudinal direction of the header (laterally transverse to the forward working and travel direction). Thus, modifications to mounting and hydraulics connection of the header to the harvester were enough to render the draper header operable on the forage harvester.
More recently, many forage harvesters are produced with a header drive which runs and couples in a direction parallel to the forward working/travel direction, which for example allows for easier implementation of automatic driveshaft coupling systems. However, it is now more difficult to adapt a draper header designed for a combine harvester for use with a forage harvester because the primary mechanical power input to headers of this type is parallel to the length of the header, that is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the header.